A Brave Little Girl

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 17, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 23.

A Brave Little Girl.

THE following incident, related of a little heathen Bengalee girl, shows what children in those far-off countries sometimes suffer for the sake of their religion.

A little girl came to school a few days ago with a severe bruise on her forehead, and on being asked by Mrs. M. what caused it, would give no answer, but looked ready to burst out crying. But another little child, a relative, was not so reticent, and said her father, having observed that she had not done her "puja" for a great many days, asked her why she had so neglected her devotions, to which she replied: "Father, I have not neglected my devotions; I have prayed every day to Jesus. I do not pray to idols, because I do not believe in them." This so enraged the father that he seized her by the back of the neck, took her before the idol, and, having first bowed reverently before it himself, forcibly bent the child's head several times, striking it so violently on the ground that it bled profusely, the child bitterly crying the whole time. But she smiled happily enough when this was related in school, and said that she did not much mind; adding, "I cannot believe that trees and wood and stone will save me."—Heathen Woman's Friend.